


Ignites On Contact

by Avendya



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-07
Updated: 2008-11-07
Packaged: 2017-10-02 02:47:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avendya/pseuds/Avendya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mickey liberates Berlin, Ace blows things up, and the human race preservers against Human 2.0. Set between Age of Steel and Doomsday.  (Some time-line alteration for Ace.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ignites On Contact

**Author's Note:**

> Written for bulky_monster at bigfinishlove. Betaed by such_heights.

**i.**

It’s November in Berlin, and it’s raining.

Mickey leans back from his desk, and his chair squeaks. His desk is covered in papers, piled in stacks even he couldn’t categorize. He looks like an executive, sitting in his plush leather chair, a soft management man thinking fine wines and rich food.

He isn’t. He is a military commander in a occupied city. He is all that Berlin has - the only chance, the only hope of survival. He is in charge. (He’s not quite sure how this happened. He is sure that he’s in over his head.)

He swears, for the millionth time that day. The intelligence reports contradicted each other, the casualty count was increasing every day, and they still didn’t know how to eliminate the bloody Cybermen. They were losing.

London had been easy. After all, the Doctor had been there, giving instructions. Paris hadn’t been much harder. Cybus only had one factory in Paris, and Jake had known just how to crash the system. Now, Jake was in Amsterdam, and Mickey was on his own.

It had been two months since London, long enough for the Cybermen to form a plan of attack. Berlin was their new headquarters, home to every new Cyber convert, every escaped Cybermen from London and Paris and Amsterdam… They’d created small factories all over the city, decentralized conversion, and infiltrated most of West Berlin. It was a disaster.

And it was up to him to stop them. There was no Doctor here, not even one of the Preachers. Just Mickey. Just the tin dog, and his rag-tag forces.

The lights flickered for a moment, and Mickey tries not to rest his head in his hands. He is the commander here. He can not show despair. He is the commander here, their hope. He can’t let anyone see - see the nightmares that haunted him, the men he’d lost, the screams and flames in Paris.

There’s a knock at the door, and he sits up, trying to refocus. Maybe it was a report from the front. He’d sent out men to find the location of conversion units two days ago. None of them had returned - yet, he hopes. (He tries not to think about the fate they probably met.)

Quietly, a grey-haired man enters the room. Mickey recognizes him: John Schmiedel. Native Berliner. Lost a wife and daughter to the Cybermen. Not one of the exploration team. He nods, trying not to show his disappointment.

“We have information about an underground rebellion movement, centered near Museum Island. It appears they may have destroyed the Cybermen in the immediate area.”

Mickey smiled grimly. He’d heard too many rumors like that to believe them. In Paris, he’d tried to track some of them down, Jake laughing at his naivete. All he’d found were a few people, huddled in corners, trying to pretend they weren’t scared. Next.

“Any news from the front?”

“None, sir.” John pauses for a moment. “It is likely they have been captured.”

Again, Mickey nods. For a moment, he can’t speak. “Anything else to report?”

“No. Sir, please listen to me. The resistance - it’s real. We need their help, sir.”

Mickey shakes his head. “We can’t take the risk.” (Not with even more of his forces dead or worse, not without a plan of attack, not when they could be overrun any day.)

“We must. What other choice do we have?” Mickey looked at John for a moment, really looked at him. He’d never seen John speak that emphatically before, even when he spoke of his dead family.

He sighed. What else was there to lose? (What had they not already lost?) John was right, they needed any help they could get.

“All right. I’ll come along.”

  
**ii.**

Stairs. Always the bloody stairs. Run halfway across the city, and there’s still five flights of stairs up.John, it seemed, knew more than the location of some rebel base. He knew the commander - had defected from Mickey’s forces to this “Ace”. (He couldn’t entirely blame him, not with a failing campaign and the rising likelihood they’d all be killed. Or worse.)As he heads up the last flight of stairs, Mickey wonders just how effective of a commander this “Ace” can be, if he chose an art museum for his headquarters. John calls out, and a dark-haired girl appears at the top of the stairs.”You brought him,” she says, with an English accent. Mickey gives her a closer look - she’s pretty enough, but she doesn’t look like she’d be of any use to a rebel commander. “You must be the famous Mickey Smith.”

“Not famous,” he says, stepping off the final stair. “Where is Ace?” He’s out of patience - his men could be dying while this girl wastes his time.

“That would be me. Come along.” She turns, and heads through an archway. Mickey follows, not sure if he should believe her.

This is more like it, he thinks as he enters the room. He thinks that the paintings on the walls might be Picasso, but that doesn’t matter. The large collection of weapons on the floor does. Ace bends down and grabs one.

“Made this one myself. Uses Nitro Nine as fuel. It can blast a hole through just about anything. Including metal men.” Mickey nods appreciatively. “I think I have enough for your team. John’s kept me up to date with your progress, and I think you’re on the right track. If you correlate electric usage with your Cybermen sightings, there’s one site that sticks out. I think that’s their main conversion center. Take that out, and you have a war we can win.” She’s talking a thousand miles an minute, and Mickey doesn’t understand for a moment.

All at once, he gets it, and hits himself on the forehead. “Electricity. Of course! Why didn’t I think of that?” Her mouth quirks at that, as if she’s trying not to laugh. If she was right… The main Cyberman base would have conversion units, but there was something more important than that… Ace already knew their secrets. What was another one?

“The Cybermen all run on a central computer system. Take that out, you take out all Cybermen from a city.”

“How much power would that use?”

He thinks of Lumic’s headquarters, and of Paris. “More than the conversion units. I think you’ve found it.” He doesn’t quite believe it, but if she’s right…

“What’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?” he asks without thinking, hating himself for asking that.

“I met this man,” she said. “Told me about the world, and how it needed saving. How I could save it. He left before the Cybermen came, but I knew what had to be done.”

“What was his name?” Mickey asked, thinking of a man in a leather jacket who’d taught him to save the world. His heart lifted a bit, thinking of his own world (and Rose, of course Rose).

“I don’t know. I called him Professor. I don’t think this is the time for chit-chat. Take a gun, and let’s go.”

  
**iii.**

_This isn’t safe._

This isn’t safe at all.

This is as not-safe as - as - running down corridors with clockwork robots after you, staying in parallel universe he didn’t know, traveling with a man who can change his face.Ace is in front of him, taking the steps two at a time. He knows they have to be fast - the Cybermen don’t leave this building alone for long. They might have five minutes, or maybe ten. (He knows, of course, that he may not come out of this alive. He shouldn’t come out of this alive.)

He reaches for his gun (Ace’s gun, really, fueled by Nitro-Nine) and follows. Three decrepit staircases up, and he’s looking for footprints in the dust. Ace is right in front of him, carefully placing her feet within the Cybermen’s footprints. He does the same - no sense leaving a trail.

What would the Doctor do here, he wonders. A mad plan that’s as likely to get them killed as help? Yes, that would be him - and Mickey is doing the same thing. He’s bloody mad to do this, Mickey knows, but he can’t help feeling just a little proud of himself. Mickey Smith, Defender of Earth.

He’s breathing hard when he starts the fifth flight of stairs. Ace doesn’t seem to notice, running like - like Rose, facing down her own death.

Ace gestures, pointing off to a dimly-lit corridor. She runs lightly, still placing her feet within the footprints. He nods and follows, clicking the safety of his gun. There’s only one door off the corridor, and it’s open. Ace stops at the door, cocks her gun. She’s done her part, getting them here.

Now it’s his turn. He’s the hacker on the team, and this could end his war. It’s the mainframe computer for all the Cybermen within reception area, and he has to get it to self-destruct.

The computer hums softly, and there’s a flashing password prompt on the screen. Mickey starts for a moment, and remembers London. Could Lumix have been so stupid to use the same code in every city? Quickly, glancing back towards Ace every other letter, he types “Binary 9″, and waits.

The computer beeps twice, and a list of files comes up. He types quickly, scrolling past options. That was the kill code, before. Why isn’t it now? He can feel his heart racing.

He’s scrolled through the list twice now. Nothing. He’s starting to get frantic now, feeling the seconds tick away. Ace isn’t looking back anymore - she has her gun aimed at the door.

_Fuck._ He’s going to die because he doesn’t know how to shut down a computer. He can’t speak, paralyzed by fear. The kill code doesn’t work. They’re both going to die here.

He laughs suddenly. _They are really going to die._ He tilts his head back and tries to stop laughing, but can’t. Desperately, as if this was a computer of his own, he presses Control-Alt-Delete. He can hear metallic footsteps on the stairs.

There’s a prompt. A bloody prompt, with a shut down option. Mickey clicks it hard, hoping this will work. (Maybe there is an escape.) No, no, no - it’s another password. False hope. The footsteps are getting louder, and he knows the end is coming.

Ace fires a shot, and he hears the sound of metal crashing to the floor. He has to do something. His fingers fly across the keyboard - “Binary 9″. Password rejected. “Lumix”.

The Cybermen scream, in a way no human ever could. There is a crash behind him, but he can’t look at it - he has to take the computer down with him. Yet another prompt - “This server has been disconnected. All Cyber communications have been stopped.” He almost whoops, but he can still hear Cybermen, and Ace’s gunshots.

Before he can move, Ace is by his side, pulling at his shoulder. “Let’s go, Mick!” He doesn’t know where she’s going, where she could go from the sixth floor of a building full of Cybermen, but she’s vaulting out the window before he can speak.

Suicide. Of course. Better than Human 2.0. Ace yells again, but it’s not the scream he expects. “Fire escape!” she says, and it takes him a moment to process it. He gets to the window in two steps, and looks back as he climbs out. There’s a Cyberman reaching for him.

“Ace!” He’s climbing down the ladder as fast as he can, feeling it sway with the bitter winter wind. It’s still raining, and he’s soaked to the skin in minutes. There’s another crash, and broken glass rains down, hitting his head and slashing a cut through his arm. Mickey can barely feel it.

The Cyberman is standing at the window, the glass broken out, looking down at them. It’s saying something, he thinks, but the wind whips the words away. It’s not following them down. He laughs hysterically, continuing to climb down as fast as he could.

His feet hit Ace’s hands at two floors to go. She nearly lets go, barely keeping hold with one hand. He’s still climbing, and he’s not sure he can stop until he hits the ground. Ace yells, but doesn’t stop. Neither of them look down.

One floor to go. He’s dizzy, and not sure if he can hold on. Blood is running his eyes, and when he tries to wipe it away, his hand is covered in blood. Five feet. Three feet. He collapses as he hits the ground, knees folding under him.

He’s not sure if he blacks out, and there’s blood everywhere. He wants to run, as far and as fast as he can, but he only moves enough to catch Ace as she tries to stand.

He pulls her along, for once, and they take off down the streets of Berlin.

  
**iv.**

They’re on the southern edge of Tiergarden, and it’s not raining. It’s quiet - peaceful. Wet. Water drops are falling on Mickey, and his shoes are soaked through. Mickey smiles. There are worse things than being wet.

In a place like this, surrounded by the cool green trees and the silence, it was easy to believe Berlin would be peaceful now. There were not Cyber-patrols through here, or at least, not anymore. Their attack hadn’t stopped all the Cybermen, not in one stroke, but they had taken out a major control center.He knows it isn’t the end. The outside Cybermen - the ones converted elsewhere, that run on a different server - were still wandering the city. They wouldn’t stay long. They’d retreat to somewhere that still has a running Cyber control, retreat and lick their wounds. He knows that will mean another battle, another hard-fought city to regain.He’s not sure he cares.

He’d won. They’d won, really - the entire human race. He and Ace had saved lives. (Just a few more people were free to live without Cybus, to be as emotional, irrational, and completely mental as they wished.)

(He tries not to think about the Cybermen he’d killed, Cybermen who had once been ordinary people. He tries to convince himself they died when they were converted, and doesn’t quite succeed.)

Still, not even thoughts of the battles to come could dampen his mood now. They had won, after so many weeks of losses. They had won, when he’d expected to die today. They had won, in a city nearly given up for lost.

He thinks Ace deserved the credit - she was the one who noticed where the Cybermen were coming from, and created weapons to defeat them. All he’d done was remember a code the Doctor had given him.

He looks over at Ace, walking beside him. She has an arm in a sling, and scrapes on her hands. He’s not sure she could be more beautiful.

(He doesn’t know if he is quite in his right mind. Ace had bound his head, and gave him some little white pills, but he isn’t sure what they were. Even if this is all from the pills, Ace is still beautiful.)

“Here we are,” Ace said quietly. Mickey looks towards the city, and there it is - the building they’d been in earlier, the fire escape they’d barely managed to climb down. (Looking at it now, he can hardly believe they got down that safely.)

They walk to the very edge of the trees, shoes crunching in the uncut grass. He can’t see any Cybermen around, and he’s glad. He doesn’t need another dangerous mission today.

“Do you want to do the honors, or should I?” he says, taking off his shoulder bag. “There’s two explosive charges, and four firestarters.”

“I’ll take the explosives,” she says, with a grin that does strange things to his heart.

He pulls out the explosives, and hands them to her. If it were anyone else, he’d tell them how to activate the explosives remotely, but she was the one who taught him.

“Come with me, Mickey,” she says. “I’m not sure I trust you out of my sight.” She pauses for a moment. “You might try to infiltrate the Cyberman headquarters and disable all of them, or something.” She walks away, out of the forest, and looks back at him.

“Something like that.” He follows, running across the empty street. He still has the firestarters in his shoulder bag, and he knows just where to place them.

Ace is already inside the building when he gets there, tossing one of the explosives up the stairs. Instinctively, he flinches, waiting for a wave of heat and flames, but it doesn’t come. Ace is already on to the next explosive.

Quickly, he moves around the shadowy corridor, placing his charges. They didn’t know when the Cybermen would return to this place, or even if they would. Still, it would be a bit embarrassing to be killed after the city had been liberated.

“Done,” he says, and leaves the building. Ace is still inside, but he doesn’t wait. He has one more thing yet to do.

He’s standing the middle of the street when Ace joins him, holding a different kind of explosive in his hand. He holds it carefully, turning it over in his hands. Unlike Ace’s bombs, this one ignites on contact.

“We have to do this,” he says, more to himself than Ace. “We can’t just leave this technology lying around.”

There it is, the window they’d climbed out of. He lobs the bomb, a high arc through the air. He doesn’t miss.

There’s an explosion of fire, and of heat and noise, flames licking at the window within moments. It spreads quickly, bright orange flame consuming the building. It doesn’t take long for the fire to reach Ace’s bombs, and again, there’s a shockwave of heat and sound. The flames reach into the sky now, dancing against the sky, and the whole building is afire.

He reaches for Ace’s hand, and squeezes it. She turns towards him, and smiles.

“Come on, Mickey. We’ve got work to do.”


End file.
